Our stories …… and other voyages from the kitchen … part one

I have been thinking about the stories of ourselves which are revealed from what we eat, the food choices we make and that complicated mix of family tradition and the sheer variety of food on offer.

Simplicity ... olives, tomatoes and pasta. 2026

Now there is nothing new in any of that.  

Shepherds' pie with out the Shepherd, 2026

It is an obvious observation that we are what we eat and what we eat is conditioned on what we were given as children, as well as on income, availability and the power of consumerism to lead us into new eating habits and new foods.

All of which was reignited by a blog from my old friend Lois, and the account of her Aunty Audrey’s Curry of Mixed Vegetables. *

It is a beautiful blend of family history, people she loved and how we ate seventy years ago, and in particular that Curry of Mixed Vegetables.  

The recipe will date from the late 1950s or early 1960s and may indeed owe its origins to a time further back.

As Lois remarks “If you do feel tempted to try it, you may need to update it – vegetable oil instead of lard, and for example there is a lot of liquid in the preparation of the vegetables.”

And I guess it is a recipe of its time with the reliance on lard, the boiling of the vegetables and fruit in the curry.

My mother made her own curry which was also heavy on fruit and may have had a passing nod to that very 1960s boil in the bag Vesta Curry.

Spicey lentils, peas and tomatoes, 2026

At which point someone will leap in with a heap of authentic curry dishes piled high with fruit, and certainly I remember those amazing cold salads from the Ceylon Tea Centre which included curried rice, and fruit. **

If like me, you were born in the first half of the last century lard will have walked with you at many meals as did that byproduct of the Sunday roast which was beef dripping.  

Collected at the end of the meal, stored in a large pudding bowl and used as a spread on bread.

I remember it well and the bit I liked best was the brown liquid bit at the bottom of the bowl which offered up a powerful salt hit.

As an instant snack it has probably been around for centuries but was very popular during both world wars when food shortages and rationing meant you made the most of what you had.

And given that both of my parents were born in the early decades of the twentieth century beef dripping would have been a natural part of their diet.

Making salad, 2024

They will also have experienced new foods made or grown in far flung parts of the British Empire and conveyed first in those fast “tea clippers” and later in refrigerated ships.

So, while “the Hungry Thirties” and wartime rationing limited choice and quantity the explosion of 1950s consumerism brought new foods which just kept coming as technology and changing fashions in food drove what we thought we wanted to eat.

I was in my early twenties when I first had pizza, olives, and sweet corn and it was not till then that I regularly visited restaurants nor will I be alone in that.  

Eating out in southeast London as a child was confined to the occasional toasted fruit bun at a Lyon’s Corner House.

We didn’t even have a chippy take away, with mother and grand mother sniffily observing “why pay someone else to make something that I can cook at home”.

Pizza, 2025

And as I pass my 77th birthday I have slid into the same world, telling Lois my incomprehension with people walking up Beech Road with cups of coffee from local shops which they then consume at home, albeit a tad colder than if they had made the espresso or fancy coffee indoors.

Making pesto, 2026

But I am not a King Cnut holding back the food experiences of the world. 

Our family is spread out across Europe and Canada and with that come new dishes which I have embraced along with those from holiday destinations in southern Italy and the Greek islands.

Once mastered the adventure is to play with them always remembering that dishes through history have always been adapted because of seasonal variations, availability of ingredients and the whims of the cook in the kitchen

All of which will come together with Christmas which in our family will see bits of Italian, Polish and German festive food mixed with the folk memories of what mum and dad brought to the table which in turn owed much to their families stretching back across Scotland to the east Highlands, the east and west Midlands and to Cologne Warsaw and Naples.

Pesto, potato, green beans and pasta, 2026

And running through all of it will be that simple guide, which is “keep it simple, where possible cook from scratch, err on the side seasonal stuff using up left overs and just make it fun".

Which led me to recreate a pot of orange curd made using a recipe from 1948, when food was still rationed.

Orange curd from a 1948 recipe, 2026

It was a sheer bit of sheer silliness driven on with a curiosity.  Given rationing I was surprised at the amount of sugar which was required.  Needless to say in deference to my teeth I scaled back on the amount of sugar and turned out something which looked good, tasted ok although the jury is out on whether I would attempt to make it again for family and friends.

But then it was made from scratch over the kitchen cooker and was fun to do with the added interest that it might well have been something mum made for me.

And that is it, leaving me just to thank Lois for her Aunty Audrey’s Curry and a pause to think about what to make tonight.

As ever we shall see.

Location; the kitchen

Pictures, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Aunty Audrey’s Curry of Mixed Vegetables, https://loiselsden.com/2026/10/25/aunty-audreys-curry-of-mixed-vegetables/

** Ceylon Tea Centre, St Peter’s Square, Manchester, and London, circa 1970s